When Natalie Cole takes the stage at a bash for Biltmore Fashion Park on Friday evening, it’s a safe bet that she’ll sing Unforgettable, her 1991 hit, and, coincidentally, an apt theme song for the 43-year-old Phoenix landmark.
Biltmore‘s grand re-opening party – complete with a couture fashion show, cocktails and a performance by the eight-time Grammy Award winner – will mark the end of seven months of extensive remodeling of the 600,000-square-foot outdoor mall and the beginning of a new direction for the Valley’s original luxury shopping destination.
With a new metropolitan feel and improved curb appeal, Biltmore’s owner says it will now fill the center with first-to-market upscale boutiques and restaurants.
But Biltmore’s future is to become more than just a mall. Two towers, with a mix of condominiums, offices and a hotel, are slated for the eastern end of the site, turning Biltmore into a live-work-play development.
Phoenix-based Westcor, the Valley’s major mall developer and a co-owner of the center, is spearheading the overhaul of the 30-acre property.
Its mission is to keep Biltmore from being forgotten.
Luring exclusive shops: Westcor announced Biltmore’s first fashion coup on Wednesday. Calypso Christiane Celle, a small, exclusive chain whose Bohemian-chic clothes appeal to jet-setters and celebrities, will open a store at Biltmore in fall 2007. The 3,800-square-foot boutique will carry women and children’s clothing, accessories, fragrances and home furnishings.
Westcor officials say Calypso is the first of high-end retailers it expects to announce to fill the center in 2007 or later.
"The retailers we’re talking to open maybe a store or two a year," said David Scholl, Westcor’s senior vice president of development. "They are very, very high-end luxury boutiques that have no pressure to open."
Biltmore, anchored by Macy’s and Arizona’s only Saks Fifth Avenue, is home to such exclusive shops as Cartier and Escada, plus mall staples Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret. and Chico’s. Mixed in are such locally owned boutiques as Retail Laboratory, Haus and Amy Inc.
Upscale nip and tuck: Set on the northeastern corner of 24th Street and Camelback Road, Biltmore was the premier mall in Phoenix when it opened. It has become known for its lush grounds, Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and affluent shoppers, who don’t blink when buying a $1,000 handbag.
But as newer malls sprang up, Biltmore faced stiffer competition from sleeker centers that boasted their own ritzy stores and restaurants.
"We think this address can be spruced up," Scholl said. "What we’re doing out there today is reinvesting in the property’s sense of place."
Still, Biltmore has remained one of Westcor’s best-performing malls in the Valley, where the mall developer owns or partly owns more than a dozen malls and shopping centers.
Stores at Biltmore averaged sales per square foot of $694 in 2005, according to Westcor’s parent company, Macerich Co. of Santa Monica, Calif., putting it in the ranks with Kierland Commons in Phoenix and Scottsdale Fashion Square.
Phoenix Councilman Greg Stanton, whose district includes the Biltmore area, said Westcor is taking Biltmore in the right direction.
"They really did involve the community and took a great deal of community input into account before they did the project," Stanton said. "There’s been add challenges because of new developments on the outskirts of town. We need to make sure that as new development occurs, we’re doing all we can to improve our center city shopping."
Scottsdale resident Dee Pellegrini stopped by Biltmore this week to check out the changes and window-shop. "It needed a big remodeling," Pellegrini said. "It’s more contemporary, which I like. It looks upscale."
Scars from disruption: But getting there wasn’t always easy, especially for Biltmore’s 70-plus retailers. Amy Yount, owner of Amy Inc., a Biltmore boutique, said construction in front of her store left her "caved in" and invisible to customers for at least six weeks. "People have been frustrated," Yount said.
Rather than deal with the hassles of construction at the center, shoppers have temporarily turned away, she said, and Biltmore’s retailers have felt the ripple affects. Scholl praised the center’s retailers for being cooperative during the construction.
Yount said she got some help from Westcor, but she wouldn’t be more specific, saying only that "they worked with me."
She is confident that more upscale tenants will draw customers back to Biltmore.
"I’m definitely excited for (the construction) to be over," Yount said. "But I’m even more excited to see who they bring in."
She hopes the new stores will have the same draw that Louis Vuitton and Gucci used to have at Biltmore before they moved to Scottsdale Fashion Square. Westcor said it is relocating global luxury stores, including Louis Vuitton and Gucci, to Scottsdale so that it can make room for more unique stores at Biltmore.
"Some of us think Biltmore would be a great Rodeo Drive of Phoenix," Yount said. "The direction that (Westcor is) going, I still like, but I wonder if it would get the most attention by having those other (retailers) there."
Erica Sagon – The Arizona Republic
